The Man behind the Red Wing
by xX Harbinger Xx
Summary: A story about Cipher's wingman back in ACZ, Larry Foulke. Very interesting read for those who wanna learn more about this great character. I hope to have this on bookshelves in BAM and/or Barnes and Noble by mid-2009. Chapter 7 coming soon!
1. Flechazo

Larry Foulke was sitting down with a woman by the name of Jessica Flechazo, enjoying a cup of hot coco to warm him against the chilly October air. As he lowered the cup with his slightly built arm, he caught a glance at a long scar running along the bottom of his right arm and his face let out an unnoticeable frown as memories of a bitter past returned to haunt him. As he looked up to avoid those memories, he found himself looking into Jessica's face. Larry smiled at her as he took in the beauty of her brown eyes and strands of blonde hair dancing in the gentle breeze. When she looked back at him, she returned the smile and opened her mouth as if she was about to talk.

Larry was quick to react, "Yes?"

Jessica let out a small giggle as she spoke, "You're never going to let me speak first, are you?"

"I'm sorry Jessica; old habits die hard, but they'll go away someday." Larry laughed, "Anyways, what did you want to say?"

"Well, I was going to go to the skate park with my friends after my shift at the hospital was over tomorrow, but I found out that I couldn't make it so can you pick me up tomorrow?"

"Of course _flechazo_. You know, if I didn't know you better, I wouldn't believe you skate."

"Why? Because I don't have the scars to prove it?"

"Not really," Larry said, "I was thinking that you just didn't look like a skater; you have always appeared to me as a model."

She blushed a little as he said that and then said, "Larry, you know that I'm a skater at heart. Ever since we met in high school in our freshman year of '87, I have always been skating."

"So what did you do before you moved from Sapin?" Larry asked.

"Pretty much the same thing. Out in the open desert though, there's always enough room to see how fast our cars could go. My mom and I would sometimes take the family car out onto the highways and see how fast it would go. We pasted a cop doing 110 and he couldn't catch up with us, so we never got caught."

Both laughed. Today couldn't have been better: they were sitting at a table decorated with a white cloth not too far from a cathedral enjoying their storytelling. Jessica's tan almost blended into the light brown stone that covered the church and her dress fitted right along with the table cloth; really only her hair and eyes would tell him that she was right there across the table from him.

"At least you fixed up your hair nicely." Jessica said, holding back a giggle.

Larry let out a brief laugh at the commit. He never liked fixing up his hair to what he had it now; he is a practical man, all he would normally do was to comb it out so that his hair was straight and looked decent and that was it. This morning he spent fifteen minutes to fix it up just perfectly for the event that he went through. He offered the hot coco to Jessica and she gladly accepted it since she was just as bit as cold as he was.

As they continued their conversation, the rest of the crowd disappeared as they returned to their normal life routine: work, home, kids, etc., but Larry and Jessica stayed. They soon caught the noise of a car driving down the street towards them and they watched as the car pulled up next to the café that they were at and came out an elderly couple. They didn't look as elderly as most people would think, but the man was 58 years old and the woman was only two years younger than him. He had white hair and she had grayish-brown hair and besides that, they could have been in their mid-30s to the average Joe.

Larry made a welcoming gesture with his right hand. "Hey mom and dad. You kind of missed the whole thing."

The man looked a little disappointed, but nevertheless happy. "We were caught up in traffic on the way here, you know how bad the famous traffic here in Anfang gets."

Both Larry and Jessica stood up and walked to his parents. He gave his dad a hug and did the same with his mom.

"Congratulations on your wedding sweetie." Jutta Foulke said, "Albert, you know Jessica, remember?"

"Of course I do. She would always walk on my lawn, which I worked very hard to make it look nice, and she would do everything with Larry. But she is a sweet girl. Larry, you're a lucky boy to have the chance to marry such a beautiful person." Albert Foulke said. He turned to Jessica and with a smile, said, "_Willkommen in der familie, _Jessica Foulke." Welcome to the family.

"_Ich bin froh, dass ein teil ihrer familie, Foulke_," Jessica said. I'm glad to be part of your family. It's convenient that Larry taught her German when they met in exchange for her teaching him Spanish back in high school.

"I can understand what everyone is saying, but why can't we just all speak English for once?" Larry said, "I've been practically around the world and I just want to hear some English."

"Speaking of which," Jutta said, "What did you do when you left home all those years ago? Ever since you became a mercenary, you almost never write to us."

"I'll tell you guys what happened, but let's get in the car, I'm freezing." Larry said.

"Me too. Larry, I'll love to hear your story _esposo_." Jessica said.

All four turned to the street and walked towards the car, a grey 2005 Lexus GX470. Albert and Larry got into the drivers seat and the seat behind that while Jutta sat next to Ablert and Jessica got in the back with Larry.

"I just got this car washed inside and out, so no freaky stuff, okay?" Albert said with a firm voice.

"Albert!" Jessica and Jutta said, somewhat grossed out by that statement.

"Dad!"

"I was only kidding son." Albert laughed, "But really, please don't do that yet."

He put the car in gear and merged into the road, heading back to Anfang. They headed to his parents' house, which was a penthouse on the higher levels of a building complex in downtown Anfang which overlooked the coast. Larry bought them the house eight years ago as a gift and also a bit of an apology that he couldn't write as often as he would like.

The SUV arrived at the building complex after a ten minute drive. Anfang was fifteen miles from the cathedral; Larry figured he could reach Anfang in less than a minute going 700 miles per hour in either his Eagle or Morgan fighters. Albert turned into the parking garage and parked the car. Two minutes later they were at the penthouse. As Larry opened the doorm he saw a man in his mid-20s with short black hair and a highly built body. He was sitting on the couch and appeared to have been waiting for the party to arrive for some time.

"Hey dude!" said the man, "Congratz on Jessica."

"Where were you Stefan? I didn't see you there." Larry asked. The man was Stefan Schlieffen, Larry's only cousin and best friend.

"My cat got attacked by a dog a few minutes before the wedding, so I had to run to the vet." Stefan said, with slight regret.

"I'm so sorry..." Jessica said.

"No no, he's fine," Stefan explained, "He only had a few wounds; he only needs antibiotics and he'll be as good as new."

"Well anyways, thanks for coming to the wedding, even though ou were late." Larry said, slightly annoyed.

Jessica interrupted the conversation between Larry and Stefan, sensing conflict in her new husband's eyes, "We were about to talk about Larry if you wanted to stay.

"I'll be glad to stay and hear it. Speaking of which, I haven't really known Larry except for when he would come over. He never spoke about what was happening in his life. Is this like a life story or something?" Stefan asked.

"It can be." Jutta suggested to Larry.

Larry let out a sigh since he only wanted to stay a short while, but he agreed with a little nod of the head and gestured with his hand to tell everybody to sit on the couch to listen in. He sat down on the armchair opposite of the couch while Albert turned on the gas fireplace, expecting a long story. Larry took a deep relaxing breath to ready himself as he began to settle in.

"It all began long ago..."


	2. Childhood

Everybody now paid attention to Larry except his parents; they already knew this part of the story, so they got up and walked into the kitchen

Everybody now paid attention to Larry except his parents; they already knew this part of the story, so they got up and walked into the kitchen. Stefan and Jessica listened closely; they were curious and wanted to hear what he had to say.

"I came into existence when my mother gave birth to me on December 15th, 1972 in Hoffnung, Belka. My babyhood was like anyone else's: I had toys to play with, caring parents, and the works. My dad would take me to wonderful places around the world. One that I especially remember is being in northern Yutobania, where I learned to speak Russian over the summer vacation. Another great trip was with the whole family of my parents and myself when we went to the Futuro Canal on the Sapin side. My dad worked construction on it and we would often go with him while he worked. When I was six, mom and dad sent me off to a private school called the Belkan School of the Study of Society, or BSSS for short. Once I had turned thirteen, I decided to go to the Belkan Public School System, which back then in '85, it was almost a joke."

"So then why did you go?" Stefan asked, "Why would you go to a bad school system if you already had a good education in private school?"

"Stefan, all because it's a private school doesn't mean it's a good school. BSSS was of that case. It taught social skills in my early years and as I grew up, they started talking about economics and society. A lot of things in there I agreed with, but they said that anyone that was below the upper-class was inferior. I hated that because I believed everyone to be equal. Back in the '80s, Belka was undergoing economic troubles and passed the Federal Law Review. BSSS didn't support the FLR because it allowed the Belkan territories to vote on their independence, which they did and became the countries of Ustio, Ratio, and etc. They said that they shouldn't be allowed to do such a thing and they wanted the colonies to stay under Belkan control so we could exploit the people and the lands there. After that, I lost all faith in that school and by then I also wanted to be around normal people, not the stuck-up kids at the private school." Larry got up from the chair to get a coke from the kitchen and then came back to sit down again. He lifted the tab to open the drink and took a sip before return to the story.

"When I came to high school, I learned a lot about what it meant to be middle-class and all the like. They were nothing like what the BSSS described them as, so I stayed. I made a lot of new friends in my freshman year, most notably Jessica." Larry paused to look up at her and continued talking, "To tell the truth, I had a crush on her since I met her and only later did I have the courage to as her out. She was a true _flechazo_." _Flechazo _– Love at first sight.

Jessica blushed and gave out a cute 'aww…'

"So what made you want to become a pilot?" Stefan asked, eager to know.

"When I was ten, my dad took me to the annual Belkan National Air Show hosted in a small town called Stokstad, which was near a major air force base. The first plane I ever saw was a Belkan Air Force MiG-31 Foxhound. The sleek black and red jet screamed power and control from its two massive engines. Later did I find out that the MiG I saw belonged to Dominic 'Vulture' Zubov, the leader of the famous Schwarze Squadron. I was hooked from that point on."


	3. Albatross

"After that air show, I became hugely attracted to the dream of flight

"After that air show, I became hugely attracted to the dream of flight." Larry said, "I wanted to fly more than anything. I didn't have much care for school, games, movies, and everything else you would expect from a normal teenager. The only things I still clung to were my family and Jessica. As most people went to get a driving permit when they turned fifteen, I was taking flying lesions. I remember when I first flew in a Piper Cub and in that same plane I flew solo about a year later. By my junior year in high school, I had my own plane to fly."

"What did you do with your plane?" Stefan asked. He started to make hand gestures, "Like, would you just fly around the airport or would you travel?"

Albert shouted from the kitchen when he caught wind of their conversation, "I'll tell you, I wasn't exactly proud of what he did," Albert produced a slight grin, "But it was pretty damn good."

The group turned their attention back from Albert to Larry as he begun to speak.

"I would take my sport plane in the air and fly around the airport until another private plane took off. I would buzz the plane a few times and then I climbed as high as I could go, then I would storm down nearly vertical and pass just in front of the plane, like a fighter."

Jessica and Stefan laughed; Albert didn't. He looked up and said, "Those stunts caused him a month in jail, community and service, and wasn't allowed to fly for a year unless he paid two thousand dollars in fines."

"I remember that day in court. Larry was almost emotionally destroyed if it wasn't for his dad. He wanted his son to fly and paid the fine for him, but on one condition: Larry had to join the Belkan Air Force when he finished high school and would have to fight in at least one war. Once 1990 had pasted, he signed him up."

Larry interrupted, "The proudest day in my life was July 17, 1993 when I became a pilot for the Belkan Air Force as an Airman First Class in the 521st Fighter Squadron of the 4th Air Division. Those days I flew a MiG-29 in a squadron of four MiGs. Even though I was low in rank, I was invited to be our squadron leader's wingman and number two in the squadron and of course I accepted the honor. Even though I had to leave my _novia_ behind in Hoffnung, I was nevertheless happier than I was in a long time now that my life dream was realized."


	4. Primera Sangre

"What happened afterwards was what I consider today to be horrible

"What happened afterwards was what I consider today to be horrible." Larry said. His face showed sorrow as he looked at his right arm again. The dreary scar on the underside of his arm was only a small part of his first combat mission and the memories from it.

"As soon as I became a part of the 521st Fighter Squadron, or the Ruttenberg Squadron for short, we were sent off to battle. Belka committed seven thousand soldiers and a number of fighter squadrons to the Sapin Civil War. We all thought it would be a short conflict, which in the end it was – "

Larry was interrupted by his cell phone when it started ringing and he excused himself to a separate room. A few minutes passed and then Jessica and Stefan looked at Larry as he sat back down into the armchair and took another sip from his Coke.

"Who was it?" Jessica asked.

"Vladimir Trotsky." Larry answered.

"Who's that? I've never heard of him."

"He's an old friend. Stefan knows him well enough; ask him."

Jessica did as Larry said and turned to Stefan. Meanwhile, Larry continued with his story.

"We were given a week to say our good-byes and all before we went to Sapin. As you know already Jessica…" Larry turned his focus away from her and started to talk to Stefan since he doesn't know, "I had to get her grandparents and uncle from the Sapin countryside near the Futuro Canal. I already knew where to go since they lived in the same house that Jessica used to live in when I first met her on the construction trips. I myself couldn't get her family out since the fighter pilots couldn't go across the border yet, but the transport pilots could. They were already supplying the Sapin Fascists with military aid, so I contacted our squadron's transport pilot to help me out."

Larry looked around as if he was trying to think. He had his head resting on his left hand and was also tapping the side of his neck.

"I cant remember his name at the moment. He was the transport pilot before he found his true calling as a fighter pilot. The last time I saw him was when he was talking about defecting to Osea before he disappeared.-"

Larry's face lit up as he finally found what he was looking for, His eyebrows shot upwards and his eyes suggested that he was in joy about the memories of that pilot and him in the past. "He goes by the name of 'Pops' now. He was a kind fellow; I sure miss him right about now…" His tone of voice slightly dropped as the joy disappeared.

Jessica was a bit annoyed. She wanted to hear the rest of the story. "Anyways…"

"…Once we finally went to Sapin, we were stationed at the Air Force base that pilots called 'the Devil's Crosshairs', the base was attacked frequently by the Communist air forces. There were five squadrons stationed there: Ruttenberg, a Su-27 squadron called Rot Vultures, and three MiG-21 squadrons. For about a week, we also had Dietrieh 'Boss' Kellerman and his squadron over and I learned a lot from them."

"So what was your first mission? You've never talked much of the Sapin Civil War when you come home." Jessica said.

"Normally, I never talk about it because that war was hell for most of us and the memories haunt me as it is. It was even worse than the Belkan War."

"How bad was it?" Jessica asked, confused by her husband's instant weakness in voice.

"Well, both the Fascists and Communists called the war _El Matadero_."

"Oh my God!" Jessica said, shocked, "It was really that bad?"

"No lie." Larry said, "_El Matadero_. The Slaughter House."

Larry slightly bowed his head down into his lap; he had remorse for those on both sides.

"My first mission was to bomb a Communist camp not far from Gran Rugido. The mission was simple enough, so we proceeded like it was a walk in the park. Bomb the place, cover the Fascists. Simple enough…" Larry swallowed, "Once we reached the target area, our warning alarms went off like mad. My cockpit was nothing but shades of red. None of us could see who was tracking us, let alone if they have fired on us yet, then I saw my squadron leader's plane get hit with a telephone pole-sized SAM missile right under the nose of the MiG and I knew he was dead. I broke out of formation to try to escape the hell composed of SAMs coming towards our flight, but one found the mark under my right wing and most of my plane instantly broke apart except my cockpit. The plane broke apart into a million pieces, or at least that was only what I saw from the cockpit. By luck, I was able to eject about five seconds before the MiG crashed into the barren desert below. I couldn't remember what happened after that."

Larry took a si from his Coke again; the can was almost gone. "When I woke up, I saw that I was on top of my right wing and my right arm was sliced open by a fragment of metal. Most of the wing surface was a deep red from my blood. I was in complete shock and after half an hour I heard bombs going off around me and I could see bodies flying all around me. I realized that my fellow Belkans were trying to save me as a helicopter touched down a few hundred feet away from me. At the base's medical station, they fixed all of the functions in my arm, but the horrible memories and this scar remind me of that day for the rest of my life. When I discovered that two of the MiG-21 squadrons as well as my flight lead were gone, I didn't know weather or not I could really take war seeing how it was really like."

Stefan explained, "After that, he became flight lead until the war's end in 1994 when the monarchy was restored with Osean help. Two million Sapin citizens and two thousand Belkans died basically for nothing. Out squadron returned to Dismark, Belka where we were given leave for a few months to recover from the shellshock and the lost of our friends. As we did, Rot Squadron replaced our duty until we became operational again in January 1995."

"So you were in Rutterburg Squadron as well?" Jessica asked.

"I stayed until 1998 when the squadron was disbanded. Larry, on the other hand, went to start a new life."

Albert and Jutta now came back to hear what happened to their son after _El Matadero_.


	5. Justice before Disgrace :Part One:

"As Stefan said that you went on to start a new life, did he mean that you changed your name and went somewhere else so you didn't have to be Larry Foulke?" Jutta asked in a caring voice, "After the Sapin Civil War, I couldn't find any trace of you and I was so worried until you came home in 2005. At first, I thought that you were killed after I heard the news that you were shot down near the Communist camp, but then you called me and assured us that you were alright. Once you disappeared again, I was waiting on another call, but none ever came. What happened to you?"

Jessica looked around her at a quickened pace and started moving her fingers around a lot as if she was keeping something from everyone. Jutta looked at Larry and he saw that she developed a single tear in her left eye. Albert and Stefan were also looking straight at him, their visual cues showing that they wanted an answer. Albert was even more concerned than Stefan; his cues suggested that Larry's dad was angry at him for the worry and guilt that was caused after his disappearance once the Sapin Civil War was over. Larry was soon facing his worst fears: a worried mother, curious cousin, and an angry father, all over his secret that he has kept ever since he left them in 1994. He glanced at Jessica and saw that her watch said that it was nearing 10:30 PM. Thinking quickly, Larry found how he would get out of this mess.

"I know you guys want to know what became of me during that time, and I would love to continue my story, but it's getting pretty late. I'm pretty sure that you guys would like to call it a night just as much as I do, so I'll end it here and pick up on it first thing in the morning." He said, with a yawn.

Albert still looked angry, but he had loosened up a little since he was also tired.

"Alright son. It's true that it's late and we all need some sleep-, especially you Jessica." He turned his eyes towards her, "Lose too much sleep and you won't look as good as Larry found you."

"Come on Jessica, I know where the guest room is." Larry said, gesturing her to follow.

"Remember Larry, no funny business!"

Stefan mocked in a joking manner. Larry turned around for long enough to give him the birdie and then returned to walking to the room, Jessica's head resting on his arm. Albert and Jutta both walked to the master bedroom to go to sleep. Stefan just stood there, looking at the hallway the two wedded couples walked through.

"Does anybody say 'good-bye' or 'good-night' anymore?" Stefan said, loud enough for anyone in the penthouse to hear.

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Stefan turned around to face the couch and walked towards the back of it. He grabbed a blanket that lay near the fireplace and held it close to him for his body to suck in the warmth. Stefan then spread that blanket across the couch and started to go to sleep, leaving the fireplace on.

"What am I going to tell them?" Larry asked Jessica. His voice sounded the guilt from keeping his secret hidden from those who loved him and almost sounded like what a scared child would say, but from a veteran fighter pilot.

She turned around to face him, messing up the sheets in the process.

"Well Larry, they're going to find out sooner or later, so I suggest that you should just tell the truth tomorrow."

"But then they would get pretty ticked at what I've done." He said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Sweetie, please don't be so worried over this. Even if they did become angry at you, it won't last forever."

Larry was fond of his _flachazo_'s ability to calm him down, even under the most stressful of situations.

"Alright," Larry said, "I'll stop."

"That's better." She answered in a sweet and caring tone. Jessica gave him a quick romantic kiss. "By the way, I got something for you." She reached in her purse next to the bed and pulled out a little black square…

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The next morning saw the family of five crowded around the small bar in the kitchen eating breakfast. Normally, Larry's parents made some pretty large dishes for special time like this, and they did; it was just that this time the atmosphere around them didn't seem as friendly as it should. An occasion where he remembered was a happy time was when he became a BAF fighter pilot. Rather, it was tense since he, his cousin, wife, and had a secret to hide up to that point and the parents wanted to know what they were withholding from them all these years. Larry was still worried even after last night's adventure he was trying to lose those feelings of guilt by focusing on the plate of French toast and eggs that he was eating, taking sips from his cup of coffee every once in awhile. It didn't work, so instead of that he looked over to Jessica as she ate her breakfast of basically the same thing but with a glass of milk. To him, referring to her as his wife made him feel older; he still preferred 'girlfriend' and the monikers associated with teenage love affairs.

Once the family was finished eating, they reached over to the sink put up their dishes. Being polite, Larry grabbed both Jessica's and Jutta's plates since they were the furthest away from the sink. Everyone got up out of their bar stools and walked towards the couch near the fireplace. Larry sat down in the armchair again, but this time he took with him a bottle of his favorite Yutobanian beer, Vladivostok. This was yet again another sign of how nervous he was; under normal conditions he would only have a Coke if he needed anything to drink at all. After a nice, relaxing, deep breath, Larry continued off from yesterday. He once again turned to Jessica and nodded to her; his gesture told her that he was ready for whatever response his parents would have to the news he has to bring.

"As you know mom and dad, the last time you saw me was on my birthday in 1994. I had just turned 22 years old, enough for me to drink legally in Belka. I remember when you guys brought me a wedding ring for when I would someday marry my dream girl; I swear that you two knew about my crush on Jessica before I told you guys. So much for it being a secret." Larry laughed, "Stefan here brought a keg of Vladivostok and Jessica got me a 'cockpit picture frame' so I could have a picture of a certain someone whenever I was flying. I've known her for around a decade and dated her in secret almost as long by this point. I knew that nothing could come between us, especially a few weeks before that when Jessica did something that she was very 'picky' about and I got lucky that night."

"Larry!" Jessica said in surprise. She was blushing as well as laughing since she wasn't expecting him to mention that in front of her in-laws.

"After the party we were at, I got into my car and took Jessica home. Before leaving, I had a few drinks, but I shouldn't have risked taking her home doing that. It was pretty lucky that I'd managed to reach her home safely and she gave me a kiss on the cheek and soon after she walked into her house, I fell asleep behind the wheel in her driveway. The car was in park, of course."

He picked up his bottle and took a good gulp of the liquid in his mouth and continued with the story.

"I finally woke up the morning finding myself lying down on the couch in her living room with a breakfast on the coffee table. I saw her sitting next to me on that couch, stroking her fingers through my hair until I was awake enough to move around. She then stood up to say 'Well what the hell was that my handsome fighter pilot?' She said that I was obsessed with her in a joking manner and told me that I could have at least driven back to my house. I was a little ashamed to fall asleep in my car, but I managed to laugh a little with her also."

Larry took a break and he downed half a bottle before speaking again. His nervousness becomes a little more obvious after downing half of the beer.

"I stood up with her and we went to the table to eat. We had a nice chat and all, I said some romantic things to my sweetheart over here," He leans over in Jessica's direction, "and I decided to be serious and tell her what I planned to do in the future. I still wanted remember exactly what I told her that day:"

He stopped to think and started to make hand gestures to reenact what he was doing when he was at Jessica's house that day. " 'Jessica, my dreams have been realized during these years I've been on this Earth; I learned to fly, I am a fighter pilot for one of the best militaries in the world, but most importantly, I have you. You know that I love you too much and I already know who I'll be with for the rest of my life.' "

Jessica decided to join in and take part in the story. " 'Aww, that's sweet Larry, but why are you saying this now?' "

Stefan, being who he was, butted into the recreation just to mess around. "Aww, so sweet." He said in a mocking manner.

She turned to face him and told him to shut up and asked him why he was being so rude. Larry knew exactly why he was like that, besides from the fact that he played around too much; Stefan also had a crush on her as well and was about to hit on Jessica when he left for war in Sapin when he found out about it and had an argument over Jessica. Little to her knowledge, he forced him to stay away from her by putting a restraining order on him to say a certain distance from his girlfriend with the police as he went off to war, which was one of the good things about being a Belkan Air Force pilot; military personals' needs were the priority over civilians in the militaristic Belka. Even though Stefan was also a pilot and could have easily done the same, he decided to back off and leave it alone. Larry told Jessica to forget about Stefan's rudeness and they continued with the living room scene.

" 'I've been thinking about what's happening now and days, and I don't think that Belka will be the best place to be living in the future. The economy is in ruins and Ustio might become a problem for us.' " Larry said.

" 'What are you trying to say Larry?' "

" 'Jessica, we won't be able to support ourselves in Belka and I fear that it won't be a safe home for you when something bad happens. Back at base, and this is classified so please don't say anything about it, we have increased the amount and difficulty of training, especially in air-to-air combat and deep-strike missions. I believe that we're going to war soon.' " Larry told her in a grim tone.

" 'What? Why?' "

" 'The Air Force officers didn't want to say, but I have a friend in the National Belkan Mining Company that was talking about newly discovered valuable resources in a mine just a few miles away from the Belkan border with Ustio.' "

" 'So you're saying that Belka would be attacking soon?' "

" 'We would be ready by January 1995 at the soonest.' " Larry and Jessica stopped acting out that night and he returned to telling more of his 'vocal autobiography'.

Larry prepared for his dad's response as he said, "I stayed at her house for a few days to help her pack everything she had and a few more days to unpack at her new home in November City, Osea. All and all, it took around a week, which was pretty quick for moving a house's worth of goods thousands of miles away on my allowed leave from base since I really wasn't able to afford being on the AWOL list. If I was believed to be going AWOL during the massive military buildup, I, as well as anyone else that was AWOL or believed to be so, would have been executed on sight. They didn't want any news leaking out of a possible invasion by fascist forces. I choose November City because I felt that city to be safe from Belka's reach if they attacked Osea too. The next day, I called you guys and asked if you could take care of Jessica for me while I was gone. I remember when mom asked me what I was doing and I had to tell her that I was just taking care of some business and I would be back soon. It was the last time I talked to her for a long time. After that, I until April of 1995 when I went to Ustio and joined the Ustio 6th Air Division, 66th Fighter Squadron, which was one of the many mercenary units formed in Ustio when the Belkan War started."

"What!?" Albert said, obviously pissed. "You left your loving Belkan family to fight for the Ustians? Why?"

"I believed in the freedom of the Ustians and that Belka shouldn't have attacked them. I love Belka as much as the next guy, but I had to put my moral values over my nationality."

"But your forces as well as the Allied Forces invaded Belka even after Ustio was liberated. Why would you think taking over Belka helps with Ustio's independence?" Albert asked, still mad at his son's loyalty 'issues'.

"I didn't, but that's for later in the story." Larry explained.

"So, when you were fighting against Belka, you weren't anti-Belkan at all, were you?"

"Of course not dad! My life and my loyalty was in Belka, how could I hate that?"

"Albert," Jessica interjected, "Larry was only doing what he thought was right, it wasn't anything personal."

Albert stood around the armchair after he'd questioned his son and decided that they were right in a way and when Jessica said it wasn't personal, that struck him and he dropped his anger towards Larry, understanding that he had to make some difficult choices.

"I'm sorry Larry. I guess it was what was best for them." Albert apologized to his son. He gave his son a fatherly hug and they both shook hands to show that he was fine with Larry's mercenary job in Ustio once he found out why he did it.

"It's alright dad," Larry said, "I didn't like the fighting whatsoever. I only fought when I really needed to, especially because Stefan was still in the BAF during that war and my family still lived here. I was relieved when I found out that his squadron was fighting on the western front against Osea, even more when I heard that the Osean Air Defense Force was too strong for the Belkan Air Force in and around November City."

Stefan was confused and asked, "Well if you went to Ustio shortly before the war broke out, how did you, a Belkan Air Force pilot, manage to join the ranks of the enemy so quickly?"

Larry looked at him and smiled at his intelligence in noticing that the dots didn't seem to connect. "Well at first, they didn't allow me to join the ranks of the UAF and even threatened to imprison me as an enemy prisoner; apparently, Ustio was keen in looking into Belka's military actions during the time. I offered to give them all the information I had of the Belkan Air Force's plans, strategies, and so on in exchange for allowing me to join the Ustian Air Force and they knew it was an offer too good to resist, so I was finally able to join and fight for them."

"Alright, that sounds reasonable enough." Stefan responded.

His father still had one more question he wanted to ask his son. "Why didn't you call or email us when you were in Ustio?"

"Two reasons:" Larry answered, "We were usually deployed most of the time, defending the airspace from any attacks and whatnot, and at the base, only military communications were allowed. We were also not allowed to leave the base so there was absolutely no way I was able to talk to you guys. Also, a recently defected Belkan military pilot working in the Ustian Air Force talking to people back in his home country would seem a bit like spying, huh?"

Albert and Stefan smiled and laughed a little. Larry took a sip from his beer and stretched in the armchair. Jutta was happy that Larry finally told them what had happened to him, Jessica was relieved in how the conversation turned out to be, and Stefan almost seemed not to care too much.

Shortly after Larry explained his whereabouts, there was a knock at the door. Larry staggered out of the armchair to answer the door, cracking the door open to see who was there. On the other side was the awaited guest of the day, Vladimir Trotsky. He knew Vladimir well and was one of his dearest friends. Belka remembers him as an evil monster. The Allies remembered him as a legendary hero. To the Ustio Air Force, he was known as Cipher.


	6. Lorelei

"Vladimir!" Larry said as he opened the door.

"Larry!" Vladimir responded, obviously happy to see his old friend.

Standing in the doorway was a Yutobanian man measuring six foot one. He had messy black hair which looked like it hadn't been cut in at least six months. Vladimir's body looked similar to that of Stefan's, but with lesser-built arms. If he, Stefan, and Larry standing side-by-side, they would look almost exactly the same except for their faces and their hair, as well as minor details. Both gave each other a friendly pat on the back and Larry invited him into the penthouse.

Stefan was standing near the fireplace as Vladimir entered. He turned around to face the new guest.

"So this is the infamous Demon Lord I've heard so much about, huh?" he said.

"To the rest of the world, it's the _famous_ Demon Lord." Vladimir responded.

Stefan walked up to him and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Vladimir turned his attention to Jessica and said, "Lemme guess, this is the lovely Jessica Flechazo that I've heard of back at Valais?"

Larry looked at him and smiled. "Jessica _Foulke_ now."

"Ah, I see." Vladimir walked towards her and offered his hand to her. Jessica took it and he kissed her hand. "Very nice to meet you Jessica. Larry wouldn't stop talking about you when we weren't flying around in combat."

Jessica blushed. "Why do I not find that hard to believe?"

Vladimir turned his head towards Larry and said, "Hey, I have a little gift in my car for you. Can you help me get it out?" He turned to Stefan and said, "And you too, umm…"

"My name is Stefan." He finished Vladimir's sentence, "And sure, I'll come."

The trio walked out of the penthouse, leaving Larry's parents and Jessica behind. They walked towards the elevator as they closed the door behind them.

The elevator came to a halt as the doors opened on the fourth floor of the building. The group stepped out and walked towards a parked 2002 Kia Sportage roughly twenty meters away. The dark green paintjob on the car almost blended into the shadows of the parking garage if it wasn't for the brake lights. On the rear bumber of the SUV was a bumber stick of the Yutobanian flag. Vladimir opened the rear hatch and Larry starred at what could be the best thing since sliced bread: Vladivostok lager, all the way from Yutobania. His car was filled with the drink by the box load.

"Wow…" Larry said his jaw dropping.

"Happy wedding?" Vladimir joked, smiling as he talked.

"This must have been expensive Vladimir. Must have been in the range of around eight hundred dollars worth of beer?"

"Nah," Vladimir explained, "That's only in this part of Belka. Back home in Cinigrad, it only cost me two hundred dollars to get all this you see in my car."

"That's pretty good Vladimir, you've outdone yourself this time…" Larry said, still in shock.

"Maybe." He replied, "Let's get this out of the car."

"Where you want all this Larry?" Stefan asked, holding a heavy box in his hands.

"Bring a few boxes back to the penthouse, the rest go in my car." Larry answered.

Everyone grabbed some boxes and went to the elevator. As the elevator picked up speed, the loads in their hands grew heavier. A minute or two after, they reached the top floor and Jessica, waiting just outside of the penthouse, opened the door for them. She was stunned at the amount of Vladivostok Vladimir brought with him. Stefan, Vladimir, and Larry walked in and set the boxes next to the couch. They then returned to the elevator and went to the parking garage to get the rest. As they got more boxes, Larry showed them the way to his car, a white 2005 Chevy Trailblazer. Within half an hour, they finished the transfer of beer from the Sportage to the Trailblazer. Altogether, there were about twenty-five boxes of Vladivostok lager.

Larry was back in the armchair, opening another bottle of Vladivostok with a bottle opener attached to his utility knife Stefan, Vladimir, and Albert did the same. Jutta was on the couch trying to find room now that Albert and Vladimir were sitting down. With everyone else taking up the couch, Jessica ending up sitting with Larry on the armchair. He tried to make room for her, but the chair was only so wide, so she decided to sit on one of the arms and ended up sitting on the right side of Larry. He wrapped his right arm around her and had his hand rest on her leg. Jessica leaned towards him as Larry continued the storytelling once more.

"Vladimir, I was telling everyone about my Belkan War adventures. I believe I left off just when the war started." Larry explained.

"Alright" he responded.

"A lot of the Belkan War was pretty easy in the beginning," Larry said, "We had to defend out base once, some bombing missions, and the like. It was basically easy money."

Vladimir interrupted and said, "The first time we had any major resistance was when we went out to B7R for the first time and ran into Rot Squadron. I do believe you might know them."

"Yeah, they were famous in the BAF, touring the country as much as they fought." Stefan said.

"They were a tough group to beat. My blue Eagle could barely keep up with their red and black Typhoons. Larry also had similar problems." Vladimir explained.

"After that, we started out path to glory and fame, especially after freeing the capital city of Directus. Our Eagles were shown on almost every recruitment poster in Ustio as we were looked upon as gods of war." Larry said, "Both of us enjoyed this fame to the fullest extent. Maintenance crew or pilot, it didn't matter; everyone wanted a piece of us on both sides of the conflict."

"A lot had changed when PJ started flying combat missions with us though." Vladimir said.

"Who's that? I've never heard of him during the war." Stefan asked.

"Stefan, you were on the western front. We're talking about Ustio…" Larry said, annoyed, "I would doubt that you would have ever heard of him."

"That was the nickname of one of the newer mercenary pilots by the name of Patrick James, or PJ for short. He was in Crow Squadron, 6th Air Division, Ustio Air Force." Vladimir said.

"He was a pretty decent pilot." Larry added, "He flew about as well as me, but he wasn't very focused on the missions at hand."

"He would talk about his beliefs on the war and his old squadron would mess around with him about his girlfriend back in Osea. I saw a picture of her once when I was talking to him awhile ago…" Vladimir said in a plaintive tone, "She was very nice."

Larry started to grow nervous. "Anyways," he continued, "Everything was going fine for me until the invasion of Belka by the Allied Forces. At first, I wasn't comfortable with doing so, but I had my orders; I just did as little damage a I could while still completing the objectives set out my the base commander and my flight lead Vladimir. He did the same as me, trying to destroy as little as possible, but he had different motives than I had since he wasn't Belkan and it wouldn't have had made a difference to him in that aspect."

Larry drunk some more from his bottle of Vladivostok to clear his throat and said, "It all went downhill when we were ordered to escort Allied bombers to Hoffnung. I figured that it was a precision bombing raid meant to take out the Belkan Army's manufacturing capacity, so I was fine with having to bomb _some_ parts of my hometown. When we reached the target late at night though, I saw that the bombers got there first and started dropping their payloads all over the city; I was never expecting the Allied Forces to do such a thing as carpet bombing an entire city full of civilians."

"I know that Larry," Albert said, "We were still living there that night. You remember how the living room was laid out, right Larry? Anyways, the couch was facing the glass wall overlooking Hoffnung and I watched as the southern part went up in flames."

"I thought you had already moved to Anfang by then." Larry said, shocked.

"We were moving out then, but we didn't completely move out until a week afterwards."

Larry paused for a moment and then continued, "I was disturbed by both the sight of my hometown burning to the ground and the fact that it was the Allies that were doing such a crime as to bomb civilian areas of the city. They didn't even care where their bombs landed; so long as their bomber was fully emptied of its payload they were fine with it. Once I'd returned to Valais, I wondered if Hoffnung would be an exception or if the Allies would continue to bomb cities throughout the campaign."

"It felt like forever before we went on out next mission." Vladimir said, "We were ordered to watch over a group or something, but when we reached an area just outside where we were suppose to be, we'd received a urgent message from HQ that bombers armed with nuclear weapons were heading for Ustio and would be flying through our airspace."

Larry added on, "I saw this as a chance to escape the horrors of what I've seen as the truthful intentions of the Allied commanders, those evil bastards. I slowed my plane down and only shot at planes that Galm and Crow teams missed while slipping away. When the bomber group was destroyed by both Ustian forces as well as, to our surprise, South Belkan fighters, we learned that they were only a decoy when another group of aircraft suddenly appeared to the far south and dropped the real nukes ajar to our airspace. Our electrical equipment went haywire and it was difficult to control our fighters for around ten seconds before the equipment somewhat had restored itself. I attempted my escape but just then, Vladimir flew to me and he rejoined the flight, making it impossible for me to sneak out. Because of that, I had no other choice but to open fire on my buddy. I didn't want to completely annihilate him, so instead I just shot at him randomly with my missiles, not allowing them to lock on to his fighter. I continued forcing him to avoid me until a defected Osean squadron, Wizard, shown up with defected Su-27 fighters to cover my escape. I was glad that they did show up since I was afraid that my encrypted messages for help hadn't reached them."

"But how could you have possibly have known that Wizard had defected?" Stefan said, "I mean, you did say that the pilots at Valais couldn't use a phone or anything like that."

"Well that's true," Larry explained, "But military communications were permitted. I used this to my advantage and searched for anything talking about missing pilots or even squadrons. That's how I knew Wizard wasn't with Osea anymore."

He paused in his speech momentarily and then said, "Once I was under the protection of the renegade forces, I was relieved to be away from all the confusing warfare that the Allies were carrying out, even though it was at a great cost of having to loose all contact with my friends back at base and possibly not receiving pay from whoever I could have been working for next. Under this renewed euphoria of delight, I failed to see what lay ahead of me with the defected forces and whether or not I would be able to go back to living the same life I once had with my family and Jessica."


	7. Terminal Assemblage

"So where did you go when you defected?" Stefan asked, "Wouldn't imagine that you could go anywhere else but Belka. My commander back on the western front advised us to be on the lookout for deserters like you when we advanced into Osea."

Larry finished off the rest of his drink and joked, "Yeah, I would think so. Having one of the Allies' best fighter pilots defecting would be somewhat serious." He then said, "Getting to the point though, I went with Wizard Squadron to Steir Castle, near the Belkan-Osean border. Once we had arrived, the leader of Wizard Squadton, Joshua 'Lucan' Bristow, introduced me to a man called Anton Kupchenko, although he was better known as 'Dr.' where we were. He had a suave character as we had a conversation about this situation I was in. I was invited to join their organization that was formed by members of the warring nations of Belka, Osea, and Sapin. At that point, they were just soldiers that were fighting an almost ending war that wanted to discuss what they should do next. As much as each individual nation tried to hide, everyone in the militaries in the countries were tired of the fighting and they were growing sick of it. This group was just a sort of gathering by some of those tired people that wanted something different from the chaos of what seemed like an infinite conflict. Anton told me of how they thought that the best solution was to never have another war in the future, for everyone to get along and to live in a peaceful world without the need for armies and navies. Even though I accepted war for what it is, I certainly didn't like any part of it, especially when people in power decide to have other people slaughter weaker populations for materialistic reasons, so the concept of a warless society sounded like the perfect solution to the moral and ethical problems war presented to the world. I wanted to help them in their cause, so I joined this group of soldiers who had the same ideals as I strongly held. Within a day or two, we finally came up with a name for our organization that, simply put, summed up our answer to a solution to war: A World with No Boundaries."

"So let me get this straight," Albert said, "You first join the BAF, then you defect to Ustio, and then you defect again to a terrorist organization?"

Larry looked at his father and answered, "Well, if you want to put it so rudely, then yes, I did, but it's just your opinion about my actions. The definition of terrorism is only subjective; strictly speaking, terrorism is when one person or group is terrified by another, the 'terrorist'. Were you not terrified when the Oseans bombed Hoffnung?"

Albert just sat there on the couch, unable to answer. A few moments pass by before Jessica gave Larry a hand gesture telling him to continue the story.

He looked at her and then back to the whole audience. "They've talked about how borders were the major causes of wars, which isn't too hard to agree with since most conflicts have been over controlling land, all because some greedy people high up the food chain aren't happy with what they already have."

"But what about when Belka invaded Ustio back in 1995? We needed the resources." Stefan pointed out.

"We should have just worked out a deal with the Ustians then; we didn't have to go in and destroy the whole country and in return have ours devastated over some mineral resources in B7R."

"B7R?" Jessica asked.

"Belkan Priority Airspace B7R." Vladimir explained, "It was the major combat area for the air forces of most of the nations involved in the war. It's on the Belkan-Ustian border and it stretches the whole length of the border."

"Even the Ustians had the same problem of wanting more land when the war turned to their favor. One good example of this was when the mercenaries were ordered to fly into the airspace over Glatisant to perform a 'nuclear inspection'. Supposedly, the Allied Forces had intel that showed that the Belkans were storing nuclear weapons within the Glatisant Fortress. When our flight was within twenty miles of it though, I saw a mass of troops and vehicles of the Ustian Army posed to strike once we've finished our mission. Once at Glatisant, I was surprised at the Belkan defenses there. Even though the anti-aircraft guns were abundant and we did take some loses, it was almost completely vulnerable to ground assault. Its ground defenses were really only the mountainous terrain and what looked like a few companies of Belkan troops." Larry explained, "Now, I was once in the Belkan military, so I think I know what I'm talking about when I say that Glatisant was in no condition to store such weapons. It didn't have any of the facilities needed to handle nuclear equipment in general, let alone the warheads used in nuclear weapons, and even if they did have that equipment, they certainly didn't have the required security that Belka would have used if they were indeed storing anything nuclear there."

"So what you're saying is that Ustio had imperialism on its mind?" Albert asked.

"That and even more likely Osea as well." Larry answered.

"And what was your organization going to do to solve such problems?" Stefan asked, "Did you want to destroy the Oseans or something like that?"

Larry looked at him and responded, "Not at all, that would be crazy and only cause more war. I believe that in order to achieve peace and allow everyone to live together happily without such greed, people have to trust each other; without trust, there will always be hostilities between groups of people. The way we agreed that this could happen is if there wasn't anything to separate different types of people. Most of this was already solved by society; the rich get along with the poor for the most part, segregation has been eliminated globally, and criminal activity is low for the most part. Because of this, we agreed that the final step was to get rid of the borders that segregated nations. That's the source of hate and greed on the largest scale, where national and ethnical distrust are the most prevalent." As he talked about the cons of having borders, Larry continued to look at Stefan. Something seemed strange, this wasn't the same Stefan he knew back in the Air Force when they were young.

"So, by going by your view of society, the places with the most greed are Osea and Yutobania? They hold vast amounts of land conquered from a myriad of smaller nations and are now considered the greatest powers on the planet." Stefan said.

"They are considered superpowers, yes." Larry said, "But I don't believe that they are the most powerful simply by holding the most land, that was disproved when Ustio defeated the 'all-powerful' Belka on the eastern front."

"But what about the organization?" Stefan said, "Most of the members of A World with No Boundaries were either captured or killed by the new millennia. Do you think that there's still hope for a peaceful world, even without your friends back in the organization?"

"There's always hope." Larry explained, "War is something nobody ever personally wants; only those in power want it and even they don't want to fight it themselves, which is where the people below him come in handy. Some Belkan farmer, for example, doesn't want to be sent into a war against people he had most likely never seen before. No Osean or Ustian has bothered him or his family when he was raising him crops, so why should he feel comfortable killing another innocent farmer, shop mechanic, or whatever these soldiers were? Anything is possible so long as there are enough people behind the ideal. Most people would agree with me in that they want to live in a peaceful world, all that's needed is to allow them the chance to band together and refuse to fight any longer."

Stefan gave him a nod to Larry, gesturing that he understands what he was saying and to some degree agreed with him. He looked down and calmly slipped his hand into his pocket. Larry saw him fumble around with some object in that pocket and as Stefan pulled out his hand, he said with regret, "I'm sorry…" He stood up and walked out the door, closing it gently as he walked away. Albert, Jessica, and Jutta looked at each other dumbfounded; Larry and Vladimir did the same. Vladimir then quickly stumbled up in a stunned fashion and bolted towards the same door, running out and racing down the hallway towards the elevator.

"_You moron…" _Larry thought about himself as he too ran out the door.

Larry caught up with Vladimir, who tackled his cousin to the floor. He was ripping off his shirt as Stefan was trying to defend himself. He walked up to the two men fighting on the floor and as he was bending down to help his friend, he saw a black object with a wire fall out of Stefan's pocket. Vladimir picked it up as he turned around to show Larry, placing his knee on Stefan's chest to make sure he didn't move.

"He's bugged." Vladimir told Larry, pointing to the black object that was now identified as a tape recorder.

"Stefan looked up at Larry and said, "Wait, I can-" He was cut off when Vladimir punched him in the face.

"Shut it!" Vladimir commanded.

Larry did nothing but to look down at Stefan and asked, "Why?"

Vladimir reeled back his fist, ready to punch him again and Stefan said, "You don't understand buddy-" Again, he was sucker-punched right in the cheek.

"Hey! Chill Vlad." Larry said. He looked back at his cousin and said, "You went to my parents' house to spy on me and record my statements about my activities in the Belkan War and to catch me red-handed talking about a terrorist organization so you and whoever you're working for can arrest me, send me to prison, and most likely execute me. What don't I understand?"

"I didn't want to Larry, I swear!" Stefan responded, trying to convince him that he was innocent.

"So then why did you do it?!"

"I was only following orders!"

"Orders from who?!"

Vladimir checked Stefan's pockets and pulled out his wallet. Within it, he saw an ID card with a blue and white emblem with a star in the center. "He's with the Oseans" he said.

"What?" Larry said, snatching the wallet and looking at the card. Sure enough, it had the Osean emblem in the background, followed by a picture and personal information about Stefan. "Why Stefan?" he asked.

"After the war, some Belkan squadrons were recruited to the Osean Air Defense Force and my squadron was part of that. While some ace squadrons, like Ofnir, were assigned as air defense for some regions in Osea, we were given a special job from Osean Intelligence. They told me to find the Allied pilots that had joined A World with No Boundaries and their ace pilot, which happened to be you apparently. Every other spy they've sent after you has been killed, so it was believed that I would be able to successfully capture you since you might trust be more, me being your cousin and all." Stefan explained.

To Stefan's surprise, Larry whipped out a .45 Colt pistol and aimed it at him, saying, "Why shouldn't I just shoot you now then?"

He just laid there on the floor, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Vladimir starred at Larry as if he were a madman when Stefan started to beg for his life as Larry walked closer to him, the barrel of the gun getting closer and closer to his face.

"You can't be serious Larry. You can't shoot him!" Vladimir said, hoping that he wouldn't actually fire the weapon.

Larry stood there, pointing the Colt at Stefan. It appeared as though there was nothing stopping him, but after a few intense moments, he'd finally lowered his gun and offered his hand to Stefan.

Vladimir moved aside to allow Stefan up. The two grabbed each other's hand and Larry pulled his cousin up onto his feet.

As he stood up on his feet, Stefan looked Larry right in the eye and said, "Oh thank you so much Larry, I knew you'll understand."

"Of course." He replied. He backed up slightly to get out of Stefan's face as he smacked him outside the head with the pistol. Stefan instantly became limp as his unconscious body fell back to the floor.

Vladimir was stunned at his friend's actions, but he wasn't too surprised considering what Stefan was planning to do to him. "What now?" he asked.

"Most likely, he might have contacted his base between walking out of the penthouse and you tackling him. Staying here would bring about risking capture or even our deaths."

"You mean your capture or death." Vladimir corrected.

"Oh shut up." Larry said, "But yeah, you're right. Plus, this could mean risking my parents and my wife…"

Vladimir checked Stefan for any other devices he might have. He only found his cell phone, which was dead. "I doubt he got a word out of this building. Hell, the recorder doesn't even have a wireless transmitter. Unless he found some payphone and was able to use it fast enough, then nobody knows anything about what happen…yet."

"Even still," Larry continued, "by the time he wakes up, all he needs to do is ask someone for a phone and tell his boss or bosses that I've confessed my involvement in A World with No Boundaries and also mention attempted murder on a federal agent and I'm done for."

"True." Vladimir said, "I still think we should hurry up with this though. The longer we take, the sooner trouble will come and the closer you are to it. The more distance, the better."

"But how can I make sure my family is safe?" Larry asked, concern about their well-being.

"Let me handle that, just tell them what's going on. I'll be at my car taking care of Stefan and the tapes."

Larry breathed a sign of relief. "Thanks buddy. How could I ever repay you?"

Vladimir laughed, "Pay me? We're soldiers for hire, I get paid enough."

"Excuse me?" Jutta said after Larry explained his current situation.

"Stefan was used by the Oseans to capture and kill me in any way he can and it's possible that he and the Osean Intelligence will hold you guys for ransom, which is why I need you to come with me, now." Larry said, "Grab anything important and meet me us at Vladimir's car."

Jessica walked up to Larry and asked, "Why? Why does it have to be this way Larry?" She wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his shoulder. A tear dripped from her eye and soon, more followed. She already knew that this would mean that they had to live separate lives from each other again.

Larry hugged her back, allowing her to let it all out as he said, "It's just how life is Jessica. I wish this didn't have to happen, but some things are unavoidable." He continued with a tone of regret in his voice, "It's all my fault _flechazo_, I should have just left the war altogether instead of fighting war itself."

"Well, it can't possibly be that bad. I mean, it wasn't like you didn't anything serious enough for them to want you that badly, right?" Jessica asked. Larry stood stil and silence.

"Right?" Jessica repeated.

He looked down on her and finally responded, "It's best if you didn't know."

"Wait," Jessica said, confused, "What's that supposed to mean? What did you do?!"

Larry ignored her question and said, "Just get your stuff together please. The sooner we leave the better."

Jessica hesitated but eventually obeyed him, walking away while Larry did the same, his regret slowly but surely rotting him from the inside out with depression.

As the Foukle family left their penthouse for the last time after locking the foor for good as Albert put the last of the six padlocks into place, they saw Vladimir removing the plates from Larry's SUV, replacing his official Osean plates from November City with faux Belkan plates. He finished up his handiwork and looked back to see the group walk towards him.

"Everyone ready?" he asked, knowing all to well that they were. The family nodded their heads sadly in agreement. "Okay then, we'll take both our cars and get out of here." Vladimir said, pointing to his and Larry's car.

"But we already have out car. Why don't we just use that?" Jutta asked.

"Remember how I said they might go after my family in order to get to me?" Larry answered, "The Oseans only want me and only me, so I want to make sure that they will never get to you guys and use you as pawns in this horrible game of life."

They knew he was right, so they just continued on with moving boxes into cars. Once everything was loaded, Larry and Jessica went into Vladimir's car while Larry's parents took his car. Without saying a word, they drove off out of the parking garage, destined never to return again.


End file.
